Diesel Cleanup Effort at Cheyenne Lake Continuing [Updated]
UPDATE 1:45 p.m. Monday--Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokesman Renny MacKay says Game and Fish biologists don't think there will be any significant deaths among fish in the lake due to the spill.
A spokeswoman for the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities [BOPU] says cleanup efforts at a Cheyenne lake where diesel fuel was spilled on Friday night are continuing.
Dena Egenhoff said that as of Monday morning a "sheen" of the fuel was still visible on Lake Absarracca, and people were still being discouraged from using the lake. Egenhoff said she doesn't know what impact, if any, the spill may have on the fish population in the lake.
Keith Guille with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality said Monday that somewhere between 50 and 70 gallons of diesel were believed to have spilled into the lake. Guille said an absorbent "boom" had been put on the water as part of the cleanup effort, and tarps have been put on the lakeshore to keep fuel from washing into the water.
He also said there isn't a time estimate at this point on how long the cleanup effort will take, in part because refined fuel products such as diesel "are always a challenge" in these kinds of cleanup efforts.
The lake is a popular fishing and recreation location in the city.
Egenhoff said the spill happened late Friday night when a truck carrying the fuel went off of Interstate 25 and spilled the fuel into the lake, which is adjacent to the highway.
Crews from the BOPU and the DEQ were called to the scene on Saturday, and Guille says the fact that they were able to get to work quickly is a positive factor in the cleanup.